“I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to the Oscars for giving me this award of encouragement and recognising my achievements while I’m still ‘young’,” he wrote.

“I’m absolutely honoured to be the first Chinese in history to receive this award.

“To be honest, making an action movie isn’t easy. It’s normal for us to get hurt and bleed. Many of us have sustained a body full of injuries and I’m no exception to the case.

“That’s why I’d like to share this honour with my brothers of the JC Stunt Team who have been with me through good times and bad times over the many years, and I’d like to share this award with every action movie star from all over the world!”

Chan, who has never been nominated for a competitive Academy Award, added that he had set himself a goal that the honorary statuette “won’t be my last one”.

“I don’t think the Oscars have a rule where you can’t win another golden statue after receiving an honorary award, right?” he continued.

‘Exceptional contributions’

Born in Reigate in Surrey in 1925, Anne V Coates has spent more than 60 years as a film editor and won an Oscar for her work on 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia.

Now 90, she recently worked on Fifty Shades of Grey, the successful film version of EL James’s racy international best-seller.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1927, Lynn Stalmaster has had a hand in casting more than 200 feature films, including The Graduate and Deliverance.

Frederick Wiseman, meanwhile, has made almost a film a year since 1967, among them his three-hour 2014 epic about the National Gallery in London.

The honorary awards are intended to celebrate “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy”.

Film-maker Spike Lee and actress Gena Rowlands were among the recipients of last year’s special statuettes.